Under the Milkyway
by PrincessMekka
Summary: Stella Anne Martin was just a typical girl raised in Forks, Washington. Well, typical except for the dreams she has every night. A dream of a horse-sized gray wolf running through the forest... Rated T just to be safe. Embry CallxOC
1. Chapter 1: Stella Martin

_'Paws were hitting the detris in heavy beats. Thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thudthudthud... It sounded almost like a heartbeat. It was coming closer, but I wasn't afraid. Flashes of a gray pelt reaching about the height of a horse could be caught out of the corner of my eye, in between the trees. I should be worried, I though. But I couldn't muster up the correct feelings. I actually was anticipating the arrival of the owner of the paws. He was going to save me.'_

Then I woke up. Same as every night, in a cold sweat, my covers strewn across the small room. My breathing sounded like I just ran a marathon, so I reached over to my nightstand, flipping on the light. My lamp was in odd dischordance with the rest of my room, a heavy black and white Contemporary piece while the rest of the room was in a more Romantic style. The harsh light made me flinch, and I had to close my eyes while the painful process of my eyes dialating rapidly occured. My inhaler was around here somewhere... My room was a mess. I couldn't keep it clean to save my life, and this might even be a matter of life and death. I found my ProAir HFA inhaler in my purse after tearing my room apart, and I took two puffs, as perscribed.

"3:00." I moaned, throwing my inhaler to the right side of my bed, because the left side of my bed is pushed against a wall, as I fell back into my pillow. Better than most days, but I've never been able to sleep a whole night through, for some reason. I've always had the same dream... a thin gray wolf with darker spots on his back, running towards me. I'm never upset by the abnormally huge wolf barreling at me, as a matter of fact, I'm relieved by my phantom.

I clicked off my lamp, and my room was plunged into darkness. There were advantages to having a basement bedroom. Namely, my light-sensitivity never came into play down here. I lay in the darkness with my floor fan on it's second level, churning the chilly air around. I live in Forks, Washington, where the air is freezing cold ninety-nine percent of the time, and I sleep in a freezing cold basement, and I sleep with a fan on level two every night. There are so many things wrong with me.

I finally gave up on the whole institution of sleep and turned on my lamp for good. Something was different about my dream tonight. My wolf usually showed his mug, but tonight he never once showed himself, he just ran around the edges of my dream, as if enticing me to get out of my dream. He was trying to tell me something... but I'm just too dense to tell what he was trying to say. He was anxious about something, but what? I ran my fingers through my long blonde hair, sighing.

'Why am I so thirsty?' I thought as it suddenly hit me that I was parched as a desert. Carefully threading my way across my floor, I wrenched open my door and was hit by a wall of smoke.

"WHAT THE HELL." I yelled, coughing as I fell to my knees, crawling across the floor to the stairs, then running up the stairs like my dog did while she was still alive.

"MOM! DAD!" I shrieked on the top of my lungs, my strides covering the ground level quickly. "MOM! DAD!" I burst into their room, listening to them rousing.

"What is it, sweetie?" my mom said, and I could tell that she was ready to calm me after a nightmare, like I was a child.

"Smoke. Fire. Basement. Now." I was in panic mode, so I said the bare minimum to get the story across. My dad bolted out bed immediatly, running to grab the fire extinguisher that we kept under the sink and racing down the stairs. I sat on the corner of their bed as my mom enfolded me in her embrace, stroking my hair in a soothing manner. While she tried to calm me, all I could think about was my wolf. He had saved me.


	2. Chapter 2: Embry Call

I awoke with a start. She was in my dreams again. That girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. I ran my fingers through my short, dark hair, listening to the world around me.

"You awake?" Jacob asked, his voice drifting across the room from the right side of my bed. I considered not answering, but Jake was one of my best friends and my Alpha...

"Yeah." I sighed. Silence hung dense in the air. I knew he was going to ask, but he didn't want to intrude.

"I saw her again. This time the forest smelled like smoke and I couldn't help but run around her in circles, trying to alert her to it. She didn't get it." I sighed again, sitting up and turning onto my right side so I was facing Jacob's general direction. The room was silent again. I had been having the same dream since I can remember, so Jacob had heard of her for years. And ever since we became the wolves and shared thoughts, he's had an intimate view of what I see in my dreams.

"I know she's real." I finally said, running my fingers through my hair again. "I know she's real and she's near."

"So, what, she lives in Forks or something? 'Cause I can tell you there isn't a blonde head inside of the Rez." Jacob's voice of reason cut through my thoughts.

"Jacob! You're a genius!" I howled, bolting upright. I heard a thud and muffled yelp of indignation.

"Jake, you okay?" I stifled a laugh, hoping that he didn't get hurt too badly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he grumbled, and I heard him crawling back into his bed. "But explain to me how I'm a genius this time."

"Jake, I'll just look around Forks for her!" I was so excited I was vibrating, in danger of phasing right there.

"Okay… Calm down, Embry." Jake could feel my shaking from across the room, I'm sure. I took some deep breaths of the sawdust scented air, trying to calm down.

I couldn't calm down, so I got out of bed, walking out of the outbuilding that the Cullens had had built for us wolves so that the Pack could live close by without dealing with the sickly sweet scent. The moon was out, almost full in size, casting a silver glow over everything. I shivered, letting my wolf come roiling out from beneath my human skin. The moment my wolf paws were in form, they were pounding the dirt. I flew over the ground, sprinting as fast as I could. I had too much energy pulsing through my veins, too much to think about, too much to look forward to.

'_I wonder if she has had dreams of me.'_ The thought stopped me dead in my tracks, making my hot blood run cold. What if she was real, but had no clue what I meant by having dreams about her… I sat down hard on my haunches, the air knocked out of me. Would it be better to know that she was real but thought I was a creeper or to just keep dreaming of her in blissful ignorance? It felt as though I was Atlas, from that Greek myth. Like I had the weight of the world resting straight on my shoulders. I plodded back towards the house, my paws and tail dragging as I mulled over the more depressing side of thought that had taken over.


	3. Chapter 3: Stella Martin

The firefighters weren't even really needed, once they arrived. We were standing outside, while the morning slowly dawned through the low hanging clouds. After a brief investigation, the Fire Marshal had found a frayed wire in the midst of the charred corner.

"Must've thrown sparks and caught on the rug. You're lucky you woke up, missy." He said, smiling at me. "If you hadn't-"

My dad elbowed the man before he could continue that line of thought. I rolled my eyes at him before having another heavy coughing fit. My parents hovered, their hands fluttering around me in a useless net of worry. With a wave, the Fire Marshal called a paramedic over, who quickly sat me down on the tailgate of the ambulance with an oxygen mask.

"You probably inhaled some smoke. It'll be okay." he added as my parents looked at me anxiously. "A bit of oxygen and she'll be right as rain."

"We should call Dr. Cullen." My mom said, pulling her phone out of the pocket of her robe, hitting the speed dial to his cell. I started to protest about the hour, but I started to heave in another coughing fit, silencing myself.

"Sorry for the early hour, Dr. Cullen... Yes, it's about Stella... There was a fire in the basement- Oh, she's fine, but she has this cough... The paramedics said she needed oxygen, but I'm afraid that this is exacerbating her asthma... It sounds like when she had the whopping cough. I'm just so worried... Oh, will you? Thank you!" She hung up the phone looking relieved. "Dr. Cullen is on his way."

"Mom." I said, exasperated. "You can't call him every time you think something's wrong with me." She just ignored me, thanking to the paramedic. I rolled my eyes again. The good doctor arrived a few minutes later, his sleek car sliding silently up the street. Against the upscale car, my old 1977 Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon looked even more pathetic.

"Hello." Dr. Cullen said, smiling brilliantly. Like always, I became a bit disoriented by his appearance. After all the pleasantries were exchanged, he went down to business. He asked the paramedic questions, poking and prodding me all the while. After he examined me fully, he stood up and smiled at me. "All seems to be fine to me. After school, if you still are having these coughing fits, I will gladly make another attempt at diagnostics."

I paled slightly as I thought about school. A glance at my watch showed that I was already ten minutes late, and that's not taking into account the six minutes it would take for me to cross town. I swore softly, causing my mother to scold me as I raced inside. I fleeting considered taking a shower, but I knew I wouldn't have time. I grabbed a dress out of my closet and hastily changed, pulled on a pair of leggings and twisted a scarf around my neck before racing up the stairs and grabbing my bag as I slid my shoes on.

"I'm late." I said, wheezing as I wrenched my car door open and flung my pack into the passenger seat.

"Wait!" my mother handed me a sheaf of paper filled with Dr. Cullen's neat scrawl. "You'll be excused for being late with this. Please be safe."

I waved goodbye as I started my car, which rattled to life beneath my expert hands. I hit the dashboard as I shifted into drive, a trick I had learned to make it shift easier. I bounced away down the street, heading across the town I had been born and raised in.


End file.
